Dissecting Jake Wiklacz
Welcome back to the Black Hare Press Dissecting Author interviews, where we dissect an author to find out who they are, what they write, and what keeps their creative juices flowing.
Today, we slice open horror and dark fantasy author, Jake Wiklacz, to spill his writing secrets and learn more about his latest release, The Mummy's Voice.
Welcome Jake!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jake Wiklacz writes horror, dark fantasy, and whatever else he feels will help give him nightmares once he goes to bed.
By day, Jake works in the world of e-commerce and digital marketing. When he’s not working or toiling away at one of his manuscripts, you’ll find him in the boxing gym or on a hiking trail somewhere in North Carolina.
You can find more of his published work through reputable retailers. His short horror fiction has appeared on the Creepypasta Wiki and the Mr. Creepypasta YouTube channel. He also writes comic books for Smashing Graphics Game Studios.
Bibliography
Aardvark Barry (comic book series), SGGS Comics, 2019
It’s Okay to Be Afraid: Stories, 2019
Jockey (comic book series), SGGS Comics, 2019
Riftlands (comic book series), SGGS Comics, 2019
Uncle Victor, 2020
Connect
LinkedIn: jakewiklacz
Tell us about yourself. When did your passion for reading and writing start?
I’m originally from Albany, NY, but grew up in Greenville, SC. My passion for reading began the moment I could read. I was fascinated with science at an early age and would spend hours as a kid reading about dinosaurs, sharks, insects, and space. Once my love for horror took off, I read a lot of RL Stine (Goosebumps, Mostly Ghostly, Nightmare Hour). Sci-fi and fantasy, too. I’d read the Star Wars novels that were popular at the time, as well as Brian Jacques’s Redwall series.
What drew you to your preferred writing genres?
I’ve always loved horror and monsters, and that can be traced back to my discovery of the Godzilla film series around age five. I was hooked. Big G opened the door to a wider interest in all things monster-related. I watched a lot of Scooby-Doo (especially the original series), Universal Monsters, and Ray Harryhausen movies. I devoured RL Stine’s Goosebumps books. My family was big on Halloween, so that definitely played a part, too. As a teenager, I got into the more mature stuff: Stephen King, John Carpenter, Wes Craven. I’d always been creative growing up: writing, sketching, making short films—in high school, I decided to focus solely on writing, and horror came naturally. To me, horror isn’t just about fear, death, ugliness, etc. It’s actually a genre with a lot of warmth and heart—like sitting around a campfire and telling spooky stories. There’s something comforting and inviting about that, and that’s what horror is all about to me.
What elements from your real life creep into your stories?
When it comes to horror, most of what I write about are things that scare me or creep me out personally. I was diagnosed with OCD at around eight years old—with OCD, you get a lot of looping thoughts and obsessive fears, but then the creative side of my brain would simultaneously develop an interest in those fears. For instance, I loved nature documentaries as a kid, and this deep-sea fish called the viperfish absolutely terrified me. At five years old, I thought a viperfish was going to swim up out of my bathtub drain and eat me. But ironically, it became my absolute favorite animal, and now, I have a huge viperfish tattooed on my left arm! So yeah, the more something scares me, the more interested I am in it, and the more likely I am to write about it.
Have you ever considered writing under a pseudonym, and why or why not?
I haven’t published anything under a pseudonym, but I have written a few humour books under one (they’re in the vault for now). My focus right now is making my mark on the horror genre, but I do enjoy writing comedy and crime thrillers as well. Once the time is right to branch out into those other genres, I may author each one under a pen name, because: 1) My brain loves categorization (I suspect it’s the OCD); 2) I’m a massive fan of hip-hop/rap music, and one of my favorite rappers is MF DOOM. One cool aspect of DOOM is he had these alter egos he would also release albums under, and each pseudonym was sort of a different character. I always liked that and thought it’d be cool to do that with pen names.
What is the best money you’ve ever spent with regard to your writing?
Definitely a developmental editor (shoutout to Jeff Hart, dev editor on my latest manuscript). A developmental edit is in-depth feedback on what is working in your story and what isn’t—themes, characters, plot, potential plot holes, etc. If you want to publish your work, you don’t need a developmental edit, but you do need feedback of some kind.
What’s brewing? What are your next big writing goals?
I just finished the final draft of an epic horror-fantasy novel a few weeks ago—picture Berserk but in an Old West skin. I suspect it will fill a similar niche to Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire. With that, I’m on the hunt for a literary agent. My goal is to become Big Five published and eventually write full-time. Going full-time as an author generally takes a substantial backlist and many book releases, but I’m ready to put in the work. I’ve been at this for ten years now and am looking forward to 50+ more. I love art and storytelling and can’t imagine doing anything else!
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Mummy’s Voice by Jake Wiklacz
Release date: 27th June 2026
A haunted man seeks peace—only to become the vessel for something far older and far worse.
Ben Carter is desperate for relief.
Years of violent nightmares, panic attacks, and a past he refuses to confront have driven him to the edge. Medication offers hope—until the dreams change. Until the voice begins.
It calls his name.
At first, Ben clings to logic. Side effects. Stress. Guilt. But the voice knows things—things no one else should. It leads him back to the one place he cannot escape: the museum where he works, where an ancient mummy lies entombed behind glass.
Prince Khafre has been waiting.
What begins as whispers soon becomes commands. The voice doesn’t just haunt Ben—it invades him, forcing him to relive horrors, to face what he once was, and to confront the truth he’s buried beneath years of denial.
And Khafre wants something.
Something hidden.
Something powerful.
Something that requires blood.
As the line between past and present fractures, Ben must decide whether he is still the man he believes he’s become… or the monster he always was.
Because some voices don’t just speak.
They take.
BUY
WEBSITE
What sparked the idea for this story?
I’ve always liked museums, mummies, and Ancient Egypt. The Mummy with Brendan Fraser is still one of my favorite horror-adjacent movies ever. The idea for The Mummy’s Voice came to me as I recalled certain times I’ve visited museums and walked through mummy exhibits. It’s surreal just looking down at this preserved person that was once alive, now in this petrified state of rest. I must’ve also been thinking about the phenomenon of sleep paralysis, and when these two thoughts intersected, it became, “What if, deep inside that mummy, someone was still in there? And what if you could hear their thoughts?” That was the seed of the idea.
Did you plot or pants this story, and would you change your process if you had to start again?
I’m a plotter. Before I type a single word of the manuscript, I’m locking down my story’s theme, philosophical conflict, character arcs, and plot outline. I feel like plotting gives me the freedom to just write when it’s time to crank out a manuscript, without having to stop and think, “Hmm, what happens next?” I’m still a plotter and have no intention of changing my process. I think it’s amazing how some writers (pantsers) create these incredible stories on the fly. When I was starting college and beginning to take writing seriously, I was a pantser, and while it was great that I was getting words on the page and developing my craft, I think the quality suffered. But that’s just me! More than one way to make an omelette.
What came first? The plot or the characters?
The characters. I knew I wanted a night guard as the main character, and the museum’s mummy is haunting him. From there, I thought, “Who is this security guard? Who was the mummy? Why’s the mummy speaking to him and what’s he want?” Once I knew I wanted to give the security guard a shady past, I realized I could dress the horror element in a nice crime thriller/film noir suit.
How much research did you need to do for this story?
I brushed up on my Ancient Egypt knowledge: date ranges, Egyptian names, mummification, artifacts. I also investigated typical museum security measures. That whole Night at the Museum thing, where the Museum of Natural History has one night guard? Not the case. Museums generally have a few people working security at any given time. This actually helped my story by giving the main character an extra obstacle: having to outwit/dodge his coworkers. But yeah, research is important to me in general. If I have all this fantastical stuff in my story (ancient curses, a talking mummy), I want the other stuff to feel as grounded and realistic as possible.
How long did it take you to write this story?
About three weeks for the first draft, then another month for gathering feedback and doing revisions. When working on a first draft, I aim to write 1,000 words per day on weekdays.
How much did the story change from first draft to publication?
Mostly fixed plot holes and inconsistencies, and other minor things, like ensuring the mummy’s dialogue sounded archaic enough. However, when I first had the idea for the story, Ben was just some regular museum night guard who happened to be haunted by the voice of the mummy. He was just a normal guy. But I quickly realized that wasn’t too interesting. He needed a character wound, a backstory… maybe even a secret. I had just read SA Cosby’s fantastic crime novel Blacktop Wasteland, and then thought of some of the neo-noir films with that similar “main character’s past comes back to haunt them” trope: A History of Violence, Angel Heart, Cape Fear. I looked to stuff like that for inspiration regarding Ben’s backstory and character arc.
How did you come up with the title?
As I alluded to earlier, I’m a big fan of those classic Universal Monster movies from the 30’s and 40’s. Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf Man, The Mummy. Of course, most of them had numerous sequels. Universal’s mummy sequels in particular, always had the title format of “The Mummy’s [blank]”. The Mummy’s Hand, The Mummy’s Ghost, etc. So, my title, The Mummy’s Voice, is a nod to that.
What’s your favourite scene? Why?
Without getting into spoilers, it’s got to be the nighttime sequence where Ben drives to the house to do the… bad thing. He’s metaphorically descending back into Hell and reverting to demonhood, and he knows it. Also, on a more superficial level, I’ve always loved horror/thriller scenes where characters are driving in a car at night (shoutout to Ian Ried’s spectacular novel I’m Thinking of Ending Things). There’s something spooky and ominous about it, yet safe because we’re in the confines of a vehicle. I wanted this scene to have a similar feel to the Better Call Saul episode “Point and Shoot”.
Is there a particular message that you hope readers will take from the story?
At its heart, The Mummy’s Voice is a story about judgement, atonement and running from your past. If you do terrible things, there will very likely be consequences; avoiding accountability only delays the inevitable (and may, in fact, add interest to the debt).
THE STITCH UP
How do you celebrate when you finish a story?
Whiskey and a cigar.
If you could invite any three authors for dinner, whom would you invite?
SO TOUGH… Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Iain Reid.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve used as a bookmark?
A bill… a $2 bill.
What’s the oldest book on your bookshelf?
Chronologically? Completed Tales of Edgar Allen Poe. Physically? Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs.
Hook me! Why should I read your book?
Night at the Museum, but it’s psychological crime horror.
Thanks for chatting with us, Jake. This interview is all stitched up.
Learn more about Jake via the links provided, and remember to add The Mummy's Voice to your TBR list.
Want more? Read all the Dissecting Author Interviews on the Black Hare Press website: blackharepress.com/